DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College overcame a sluggish start on Saturday inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center, using a 19-0 rally to erase a 14-point deficit against Franklin and pulling out a 64-60 victory. The win was DC's sixth-straight home triumph against the Grizzlies.
FC opened the game on fire, sinking five of its first eight attempts from beyond the arc to build a 23-11 advantage in the opening minutes. The gap spread to the 14-point margin at 30-16 with 5:23 to play in the opening stanza, before Defiance began to fight back.
The game-changing rally was fueled on the defensive end, as Defiance held Franklin scoreless over the remainder of the half and used a 12-0 spurt to draw within 30-28 at the break.
Defiance continued the stretch in the opening minutes of the second stanza, scoring the first seven points out of the intermission to grab a 35-30 lead. The 19-0 run spanned 8:14 of action from the 5:23 mark of the first half to the 17:09 mark of the second and flipped a 14-point Franklin cushion into a five-point edge for the Jackets.
Logan Wolfrum capped the spurt with five-straight points and eventually pushed the spread to 45-37 with two more from the free throw line, finishing the decisive 29-7 run by DC.
Franklin (4-4, 2-2 HCAC) finally managed to stop the onslaught by dialing it back up from long distance for a pair of treys that sliced the Defiance lead in half and later used its ninth make from beyond the arc to close to within 57-56 with 2:39 showing on the clock.
The DC lead would evaporate at the 1:01 mark on a Howard Bailey jumper, and the two sides traded buckets on the ensuing possessions to stay gridlocked at 60-60 with 23 ticks left in the contest.
Wolfrum took care of the rest by driving the lane, spinning and kissing a jumper off the glass and in with 1.5 seconds to go to give Defiance the 62-60 lead.
The Jackets would seal the victory moments later, as Drew Frizell knocked down a pair of free throws to complete the 64-60 win.
Defiance overcame the outside attack of the Grizzlies by dominating the interior with a 30-14 edge in points in the paint and a commanding, 35-22, gap in total rebounds.
Hosie Smith led the effort on the glass for DC, pulling down a career-high eight rebounds, while Wade Wooley grabbed seven and Travis Schomaeker also set a career-high with seven boards to go with his nine points.
Frizell scored in double figures once again with 12 points, while Mason Roth netted all 10 of his in the final 20 minutes of action.
Wolfrum led the way on offense however, scoring a game-high 20 points for his 30th career outing of at least 20 points. The senior jumped past Charles Nafziger's (1969-1973) career total of 1,468 and Anthony Pettaway's (2005-2009) total of 1,477 to climb into 11th place on DC's all-time scoring list with 1,486.
The Ayersville High product now sits just four points back of Bill Szabo (1983-1985) and nine points shy of Joe Hockenberry (1954-1958) in Yellow Jacket history and would become the ninth player in program history to reach 1,500 career points with 14 more tallies.
Wolfrum and the Jackets (5-4, 2-2 HCAC) will look to pick up where they left off, when they return to action in two weeks to host the 38th-Annual Purple and Gold Tournament.
Action will begin at 5:00 pm on Saturday, December 29, when Adrian takes on Mount Union. DC will follow at 7:00 pm against Finlandia.